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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens when Ivan Ilych becomes ill?

2. What causes Marya Alexandrovna's depression?

3. Who are the Grebensk Cossacks descended from?

4. Who is Praskovya Federovna?

5. How old is Marya Alexandrovna?

Short Essay Questions

1. How has Marya's attitude about marriage changed by the end of the story?

2. What does Dmitri discover about the Chechens?

3. Describe the circumstances of Lukashka's death.

4. What causes Marya's depression?

5. Describe the beginning of Marya's relationship with Sergey.

6. Who are the Grebensk Cossacks?

7. How does Tolstoy describe Eugene Irtenev's marriage with Liza Annenskaya?

8. How does Ivan Ilych change when he begins to make money?

9. What is Marya Alexandrovna's situation at the beginning of "Family Happiness"?

10. What does Marya think about her marriage at first?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What epiphanies do Tolstoy's characters have, and what do they learn from them? Is Tolstoy consistent in the kinds of things his characters learn, or is he using his characters to elicit feelings or epiphanies in the reader?

Essay Topic 2

Many characters in Tolstoy's stories learn and grow throughout the stories. Analyzing three stories, describe the and compare the kinds of growth Tolstoy portrays: are there commonalities? Is growth always in the direction of moral and spiritual enlightenment? If not, what other kinds of growth does Tolstoy describe?

Essay Topic 3

Analyze morality in three of Tolstoy's stories. What is Tolstoy's view of morality? Is it innate, or the result of decisions?

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